Season Preview: Lehigh equipped with depth and experience
8/22/2017 4:31:00 PM | Volleyball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The 2017 Lehigh volleyball season is set to get underway Friday with the Lehigh Fall Classic at Stabler Arena, which begins a seven-match home stand over the next two weekends for Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks will square off against Saint Peter's in the season opener at 1 p.m. Friday, followed by a matchup with Marist at 8 p.m. Lehigh will close out the opening weekend slate with a doubleheader on Saturday against Radford and Coppin State.
The Mountain Hawks possess a healthy-sized roster heading into 2017 following the departure of just two student-athletes (graduation) at the end of last season, combined with the addition of seven freshman to the squad. Lehigh welcomes back 12 returners from the 2016 team, all of whom played in over 50 percent of the team's 30 matches a season ago. Statistically speaking, the Brown and White return its top three kills leaders, its assists leader, digs leader and top blockers from last season.
On the outside, Lehigh has a strong and progressing group of players that will look to build on a successful campaign a season ago. Junior Victoria Hemsath is the veteran of the group, while sophomores Jess Donaldson, Julia Pressly and Ana Spangenberg round out the core of outside and right side hitters. Pressly and Hemsath combined for 409 kills as the top two leaders on last year's team, while Donaldson ranked seventh in the Patriot League with a team-best 2.68 kills-per-set average last year. To go along with a strong group of returners, freshmen Madeline Dunterman, Sabrina Lancaster and Hannah Wright have turned heads in the preseason and will certainly have an impact as the season progresses.
Setting up the attackers is an experienced group of returners. Junior Megan Polak paced the team last season with 870 assists and ranked fifth in the Patriot League with 8.29 assists per set. The 2016 Academic All-Patriot League honoree also ranked fourth in the league with 0.34 service aces per set. Senior Bonaire Berry will also be a key contributor to the offensive effort and bring a valuable veteran presence to the floor.
In the middle, the Mountain Hawks have much to feel good about as they will be led by senior Kelly Bennett and sophomores Lauren Bright and Emily Poole, who both made big impacts in their freshmen campaigns. Bennett had a well-round 2016 campaign as she ranked fifth in the Patriot League with a .314 hitting percentage to go along with 203 kills, while ranking third on the team in total blocks (65.0). Poole paced the squad last season with 72.0 total blocks and ranked fourth in the Patriot League with an average of 0.97 blocks per set, while Bright totaled 69.0 blocks in just 52 sets played. Lehigh has bolstered the net defense as freshmen Morgan Farrell, Claire Nagelhout and Nicole Vaccarella will look to provide much-needed depth to the rotation.
Defensively, Lehigh returns three upperclassmen liberoes and defensive specialists, while ushering in a freshman defensive specialist. Junior Emily Develle returns as one of the top liberoes and defensive specialists in the Patriot League from 2016 as she paced the league with 470 digs and ranked second with 4.23 digs per set. She also chipped in offensively as she ranked second on the team with 25 service aces and finished third with 97 assists. Senior Hannah Chalk will add valuable depth to the libero position, while fellow senior Stephanie Stieber has transitioned into a full time defensive specialist role. Freshman Allison Garrett has had a strong preseason thus far and has the potential to be a valuable piece in an experienced defensive unit.
Following the opening weekend, Lehigh will remain at home for the annual Crosstown Tournament on September 1-2 with matchups against Saint Francis (Pa.), Central Connecticut State and Norfolk State. The Brown and White will be on the road for most of the early part of September, before returning home and opening Patriot League play against Colgate Sept. 22.
Lehigh enters the 2017 season on a streak of six-straight seasons with a winning record at home and eight-straight seasons with a .500 or better winning percentage in league play. The mixture of a strong veteran presence with a proven core of returners has the Mountain Hawks primed to make their seventh Patriot League postseason appearance in a nine-year span. The top four teams in the league at the end of the regular season will compete in the two-round tournament on November 18-19 at the site of the highest seed.
The Mountain Hawks possess a healthy-sized roster heading into 2017 following the departure of just two student-athletes (graduation) at the end of last season, combined with the addition of seven freshman to the squad. Lehigh welcomes back 12 returners from the 2016 team, all of whom played in over 50 percent of the team's 30 matches a season ago. Statistically speaking, the Brown and White return its top three kills leaders, its assists leader, digs leader and top blockers from last season.
On the outside, Lehigh has a strong and progressing group of players that will look to build on a successful campaign a season ago. Junior Victoria Hemsath is the veteran of the group, while sophomores Jess Donaldson, Julia Pressly and Ana Spangenberg round out the core of outside and right side hitters. Pressly and Hemsath combined for 409 kills as the top two leaders on last year's team, while Donaldson ranked seventh in the Patriot League with a team-best 2.68 kills-per-set average last year. To go along with a strong group of returners, freshmen Madeline Dunterman, Sabrina Lancaster and Hannah Wright have turned heads in the preseason and will certainly have an impact as the season progresses.
Setting up the attackers is an experienced group of returners. Junior Megan Polak paced the team last season with 870 assists and ranked fifth in the Patriot League with 8.29 assists per set. The 2016 Academic All-Patriot League honoree also ranked fourth in the league with 0.34 service aces per set. Senior Bonaire Berry will also be a key contributor to the offensive effort and bring a valuable veteran presence to the floor.
In the middle, the Mountain Hawks have much to feel good about as they will be led by senior Kelly Bennett and sophomores Lauren Bright and Emily Poole, who both made big impacts in their freshmen campaigns. Bennett had a well-round 2016 campaign as she ranked fifth in the Patriot League with a .314 hitting percentage to go along with 203 kills, while ranking third on the team in total blocks (65.0). Poole paced the squad last season with 72.0 total blocks and ranked fourth in the Patriot League with an average of 0.97 blocks per set, while Bright totaled 69.0 blocks in just 52 sets played. Lehigh has bolstered the net defense as freshmen Morgan Farrell, Claire Nagelhout and Nicole Vaccarella will look to provide much-needed depth to the rotation.
Defensively, Lehigh returns three upperclassmen liberoes and defensive specialists, while ushering in a freshman defensive specialist. Junior Emily Develle returns as one of the top liberoes and defensive specialists in the Patriot League from 2016 as she paced the league with 470 digs and ranked second with 4.23 digs per set. She also chipped in offensively as she ranked second on the team with 25 service aces and finished third with 97 assists. Senior Hannah Chalk will add valuable depth to the libero position, while fellow senior Stephanie Stieber has transitioned into a full time defensive specialist role. Freshman Allison Garrett has had a strong preseason thus far and has the potential to be a valuable piece in an experienced defensive unit.
Following the opening weekend, Lehigh will remain at home for the annual Crosstown Tournament on September 1-2 with matchups against Saint Francis (Pa.), Central Connecticut State and Norfolk State. The Brown and White will be on the road for most of the early part of September, before returning home and opening Patriot League play against Colgate Sept. 22.
Lehigh enters the 2017 season on a streak of six-straight seasons with a winning record at home and eight-straight seasons with a .500 or better winning percentage in league play. The mixture of a strong veteran presence with a proven core of returners has the Mountain Hawks primed to make their seventh Patriot League postseason appearance in a nine-year span. The top four teams in the league at the end of the regular season will compete in the two-round tournament on November 18-19 at the site of the highest seed.
Players Mentioned
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